40 Winks Under a Tree
by koiapiks
Summary: It was ridiculous! The girl was being more of a hazard to herself and his nerves were getting frazzled because of it. That was quite enough. He had to do something... [RyoSaku] Ah... youth...


Sakuno propped her chin upon her palms as she tried to keep awake during English class. She had spent the past 15 minutes willing her eyes to stay open, even pinching her cheek every few seconds or so (when the teacher was not looking, of course). A few moments later, the foreign words scrawled on the board formed human figures and performed a Noh play in front of her—in English no less! Sakuno sheepishly grinned as the performance slowly pulled her into dreamland. But just as she was about to rest her chin on her arms, she caught sight of a piece of chalk floating towards her as if doing a dance on its own. Her grin grew wider, not only was the show in English, it was an interactive one to boot! The piece of chalk inched faster as it got nearer and stopped abruptly as it hit her forehead, painfully at that. The teacher's words thundered across the room, "Ryuzaki! No sleeping in class!"

The girl turned ten shades of red.

Golden orbs witnessed everything as it unfolded before him. Ryuzaki seriously was out of sorts today. He had watched as she pinched her cheeks until they turned the color they perpetually were whenever she tried to talk to him. He smirked as a stupid grin graced her features. Her lids had fluttered shut and then darted open at the chalk's impact. "Hn," was all he could manage.

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This was their last year in Seishun Gakuen and their first year in class together. As the days went by, he began to notice (much to his annoyance) that the coach's granddaughter had _a lot _of quirks, apart from those he'd already made a mental note of i.e. playing with the hem of her skirt, and looking at her toes as she spoke, to name a few. Not that he cared about the way her cheeks registered a new shade of red when the teacher put her on the spot, he just found it amusing in the very least. He just thought it logical that he should find entertainment in the girl's many idiosyncrasies rather than be irritated by them. Simply put, if he found her quirks annoying, then he would be annoyed everyday for the rest of the year. He sought entertainment, and he was entertained… especially during the past three days.

There was no doubt that she had been laboring over their English project night after night. Ryoma, of course, had already finished it the same day their teacher told them about it. But that girl was on the opposite extreme. She had dark circles under her eyes the next day… and that was just the beginning. She tripped on thin air more often than before; she constantly bumped into walls, people, tables, chairs; she nearly fell over the stairs once, had her best friend not been there to scream about "Ryoma-sama" into her ear. If she hadn't chopped off those long pigtails and settled for a ponytail, she would have stumbled on them and woke up in a hospital.

It was ridiculous! The girl was being more of a hazard to herself and his nerves were getting frazzled because of it. That was quite enough. He had to do something.

Lunch time came and Sakuno picked at her bento with loosely held chopsticks. She failed to notice Ryoma standing beside her until…

"Ryuzaki…"

"Ah… R-Ryoma-kun… Eto… Do you need something?"

"Let's go."

"E-eh? Doko?"

"Outside."

Ryoma walked to the door and Sakuno scrambled after.

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The tennis prince walked rather leisurely while Sakuno trailed behind him, tripping here and there. "Mou…" the girl thought. "Ryoma-kun must think I'm a complete idiot… a hopless klutz and a complete idiot… he's probably going to tell me off for being too annoying…" She was snapped out of her reverie when she almost bumped into the boy. He had stopped under a tree at one of the school's secluded spots.

"Here," the dark-haired boy said blandly. "I go here to sleep."

Sakuno could only stare at him, unaware of what he was getting at. "R-Ryoma-kun… I d-don't understand…"

"Go to sleep." He replied, in a tone not unlike their former Tezuka buchou.

The girl's eyes widened but not long after, they persisted on a half-lidded stare.

"D-demo… I'm not sleepy! N-not at all!"

The boy turned his gaze from the grassy spot under the tree to Sakuno's reddened face. "Sleep." He commanded. "I couldn't possibly…" she retorted weakly. "E-eto… it would be… i-inappropriate for a girl…" She muttered.

Ryoma sat down on the grass.

"I'll keep watch." He said matter-of-factly. And she turned redder.

A yawn betrayed her earlier protests and she succumbed to the soft grass and the cool shade. She lay beside the boy who was leaning against the tree with his hands behind his head. Glancing up at the prince's face, she wondered if this were all just a dream. If it were, the teacher would probably discover her drifting off again and would scold her back to reality. But she decided to relish it while it lasted and yielded just the same. She closed her eyes with a small smile curving her lips.

As her breathing grew steady, Ryoma's eyes turned to her. She had changed so much—grown in more ways since last he paid attention. Quite a woman, he'd heard some of his male classmates say. But he wouldn't know anything about that. Ryuzaki was still Ryuzaki. Clumsy, still poor-at-English Ryuzaki. He smirked. Now, he not only had to coach her in tennis, he also took it upon himself to help her with her English. No matter… it could be fun. He wondered what new shade of red her cheeks would come up with once he offered to tutor her, anyway.

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**Author's Notes:** A big thank you goes out to runningondreams for the idea for this fic. I hope it was to your liking.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Tennis no Oujisama


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